Welcome back fight fans to another video here on The Fight Game. In this video we'll be
taking an in depth look at the upcoming rematch between Anthony Joshua
and Andy Ruiz Junior in a full boxing case study. We'll be talking about
what went wrong, why it went wrong, what needs to go right, and how it can go right for each
fighter. When their first fight was announced, Ruiz was written
off right from the get-go. Many laughed at his physique, some even
decided not to tune in to watch the fight. But a small select few knew Ruiz was a formiddable
opponent, and after the upset came to fruition many fans came
out to say they themselves made the mistake in not doing their research
on Ruiz. It's an honest mistake, but for Anthony Joshua it was a costly one. There are hundreds
of theories out there to justify Joshua's loss, and while
some of them may merit legitimate reasoning it's important to give Ruiz
his credit for defying the odds. Hindsight is 20/20, looking back it's easy to see how
Ruiz is one of the fastest heavyweight boxers in the sport right now,
it's easy to see that Ruiz had a good case to get the decision against
Joseph Parker, It's easy to see that he is a former junior olympic boxer - but the build
up to a fight is not as simple as that. So before we speculate
on the rematch let's go back to the build up to see what contributed
to Anthony Joshua's first professional loss.
Joshua was originally scheduled to fight Jarrel Miller, but after he made claims that Joshua
was on steroids in the press conferences, he later tested positive
himself, and so therefor the fight was off. Joshua was in need of a
replacement, and Andy Ruiz stepped up to the plate. All anyone saw was a small chubby guy
who stood no chance against the much more aesthetically impressive Joshua.
Sure we know now that didn't matter when they fought, but remember we
have to see the build up for how it was at the time. Joshua is a professional athlete,
he knows that no opponent is ever to be overlooked, but what is expected
from a boxer and what the boxer expects himself can be two very
different things. Joshua can say he didn't overlook Ruiz, and he might not have in the
sense of his preparation in training camp, but it's possible he had much
lower expectations for Ruiz. Joshua admitted in interviews after the fight
that he felt there wasn't much to gain from beating Ruiz, which tells us he didn't see
himself beating an elite level fighter. We saw a much different demeanour from Joshua
in the lead up to the fight and he fell right in to the nice guy persona of Andy Ruiz.
It was probably difficult for Joshua to imagine that this happy-faced guy would go in to the
ring with an ultimate aim of taking his head off.
And with that Joshua let Ruiz hold his belts. Look at this picture, you can just tell that
Joshua took the fight less seriously than he should have.
One would go even as far as to say that Joshua got civilized, something we heard from Rocky's
trainer in Rocky 3. Although it was a movie it does speak a lot of sense. Contrastingly,
when Ruiz was asked recently if he'd let Joshua hold his belts, he said
Hell no. He has to beat me first. These are mine. That's the mentality Joshua should have
had in their first meeting. So to summarise the build up, Joshua in his
mind was definitely not expecting to get dropped in the ring, he knew Ruiz was a good
opponent, but he wasn't expecting him to be on the same danger level such as Wladimir
Klitschko, and therefor was more relaxed about the fight. Remember this as we will
refer back to it in a few minutes.
Let's fast forward to fight night, many felt Joshua seemed off, but he most likely just
felt really relaxed which falls right in line with what I just said. The fight began
and in the first 15 seconds Ruiz had thrown 2 strong straight jabs to Joshua's body.
For me this is when I knew Joshua was in for a tough night. Ruiz threw the jabs with confidence,
and confidence matters a lot in boxing. Joshua then came back with his own
straight jab to the body. Boxers tend to mirror their opponents actions especially
in the beginning of a fight. Ruiz made sure not get caught with a second one
as he parried Joshua's second attempt. Ruiz then feinted his jab to entice a right hand
from Joshua, he slipped to the left and came back around with a left hook to get himself
in proper position for a combination. As time passed by in the opening 2 minutes,
Joshua found little luck with establishing his jab, so he looked for a powerful right
hand. But Ruiz showed his boxing IQ with a simultaneous roll and right hook. For Joshua
it was no luck with the jab, no luck with the right hand, so he opted for a wide
left hook, but Ruiz again showed his experience with a subtle step. Although the round was
calmly fought Ruiz had established his distance and gained the upper edge. Joshua
landed good jabs aswell with a good tendancy to stay off the line, he found jabbing on
the back foot more beneficial than moving forward, but Ruiz had the more concise dominance.
This all happened in only the first round.
The following rounds passed by in similar fashion, Joshua got his punches on target.
The fight was a good battle of boxing skills, that was until everything changed in the third
round. Joshua dropped Ruiz with a powerful right uppercut left hook combination, which
was good, but I feel Joshua made the biggest mistake of all in the following seconds. Generally
when Joshua drops his opponents he goes straight for the kill. Most often his opponents
are genuinly hurt but Ruiz was not hurt as much as anticipated. Joshua over extended
twice on his right hand, a dangerous mistake to make in boxing as it leaves you exposed
and unbalanced, it was on the second one where Ruiz
countered over with a left hook. This spelled disaster for Joshua and made him suspect to
a following equilibrium shot over the ear. Sometimes with a shot like this you won't
be able to recover fully and will remain in effect for any duration in the fight.
Everything changed when Joshua was dropped, all of a sudden the fight was no longer a
welcoming party to the USA, it was on the brink of
going terribly wrong. Let's refer back to what Joshua expected, he didn't expect this,
and when you're not mentally prepared for something
like this it's almost impossible to switch on during the fight. Boxing is more mental
than physical and Joshua simply did not have the
mentality to win a hard fight that night. This combined with the fact that he took a
shot that would mess with his focus and balance for the night, it was almost impossible to
see Joshua lasting 12 rounds, don't mind actually winning the fight.
Joshua didn't lose this fight with incorrect mental preperation, he lost with incorrect
mental expectations.
Joshua made the exact same mistake again in the fifth round when he caught Ruiz with a
left hook. The left hook was a great shot, Joshua
was the better boxer when he fought at this pace, but he ruins it by trying to knock him
out thereafter. He always goes off balance when
he throws the big right hand. A boxer is usually over extended when his
head is out in front of his knee, in both subsequent right hands his head was out
way too far putting him in a very vulnerable position. Hopefully Joshua and his trainer
noticed this mistake in the fight and used the training camp wisely to make sure
this doesn't happen again. If Joshua hasn't learned we'll see Ruiz capitalize on the same
mistake again.
Watch how Joshua boxed against Joseph Parker, centre of the ring, right hand to the body
and he gets out of there straight away. This is the boxing of a boxer who is careful, and
a sense of being careful can only come from expectations. Joshua lands a left hook, he
doesn't rush in, he stays calm and remains composed. This is how he needs to box against
Ruiz. Watch how he controls the distance with small stutter steps. He avoids 8 punches here
just by being weary and careful with his footwork. Joshua must go back to boxing finess
to beat Ruiz.
Both boxers respect eachothers power, Joshua will need to break down Ruiz with an active
guard and consistant jab. Ruiz's head movement is excellent
which allows him to set up good counters while also avoiding Joshua's advances. Joshua in
comparison had very poor lateral movement, he was in most danger
when he remained static. Joshua really only got caught when he stayed in the same position
for too long without doing something. As the fight went on,
especially after the knockdown, Joshua didn't throw many feints or jabs, he at times looked
to load up on the big right hand, and in turn he invited attacks from
Ruiz. Joshua needs to have a better ring presence against a boxer like Ruiz. Ring precense can
be anything from the realm of confidence, feints, control
and positioning. Because Joshua boxed on the back foot he found it very difficult to counter
Ruiz, when Joshua changed the angle from the outside he put himself
in a difficult position to throw from. He will find it easier to box Ruiz if he keeps
his position in the centre of the ring for middle distance exchanges.
In his fight against Parker, Joshua was always mobile, never stationary. Perhaps the difference
in weight played a part to Joshua's stiffness in the Ruiz fight.
Joshua weighed in at 247 and a half pounds, but for Parker he weighed in much lighter
at 242 pounds. I'd like to see Joshua go back down to that area for the
rematch. He boxes much better when he's more agile. Joshua is a destructive power puncher,
sure, but he does have a good boxing foundation, and at heavyweight
that foundation plays a critical role. It's when he forgets his fundamentals, such as
overextending, that's when he puts himself in harms way.
Joshua for the most part always landed the punches first, he was the one who boxed the
better fight, it was only from Joshua's mistakes where Ruiz found
his successes. Joshua, even after the third knockdown, regained control. Watch Joshua
land the left hook, he stays there waiting to be hit. Instead of
getting his distance back to measure Ruiz with his lead hand, like he did many times
in the Parker fight, he stayed there, ducked low to exchange and
got caught with a barrage of Ruiz's punches. The worst thing for Joshua here is that he
wasn't actually seriously hurt, he just had no answer to Ruiz's
flurry of punches. Even after this, he got back to landing his jab, but then he fell
in with a right hand again and got knocked down for a final time.
Ruiz boxed brilliantly, kudos to him for proving all the haters wrong, he got knocked down,
got back up and made sure he walked out the winner that night.
He displayed a great boxing IQ, he really wanted it and he made it happen, that is a
boxer who is champion minded.
Joshua made too many mistakes and Ruiz reacted perfectly. The fight was actually a great
fight between two great boxers. People give Joshua way too much
of a hard time, there are many elements to a boxing match that most people don't notice.
Joshua didn't get exposed, he simply got beat by the better boxer
on the night. It's what happens in boxing. To win the rematch Joshua needs to make major
adjustments in how he approaches the fight, he needs to stamp
his authority early, he needs to stay off the straight line, he needs to be careful
with his actions, Ruiz will be a live dog in the rematch just like
he was in the first fight, Ruiz needs to get in range behind Joshua's jab, his footwork
and handspeed need to work in perfect motion, Ruiz's que to attack
will be an interring lapse in Joshua's focus. Jabbing to the body will drop Joshua's hands
low, opening an attack for Ruiz upstairs. Joshua needs to remain
calm when he lands a big shot, a constant and continuous output of clean punches will
break down Ruiz much better than destructive combinations. Simple one-twos
are the keys to victory for Joshua. He has the height and reach advantage, he's got to
use it. Ruiz beat Joshua once, he can do it again, but this time he
might have to do it differently. Which boxer will learn from their mistakes the most, which
boxer truly wants it this time. This boxing match, like many
before it's time, has too many variables to make any sort of prediction. But that's why
we watch boxing isn't it, the unpredictability of what we're going
to see. Joshua's got to want it. If he's not going in there with focused intentions he's
walking out with a loss. Don't miss the live fight, December 7th, Live on
Dazone and Sky Sports Box Office.
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the channel. We'll see you in the next video here on The Fight Game.